1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to security devices for storage facilities, and particularly to a lock system for a shed and other similar accessory structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Storage sheds are well known accessory structures which have been found useful for both residential and business purposes. In a residential setting, sheds are commonly used to store lawn mowers and other lawn and garden equipment and machinery, as well as volatile liquids, such as gasoline, used in conjunction with such equipment. Sheds may also be used for the storage of portable grills and their flammable fuels, such as propane cylinders. Sheds have been used as an adjunct storage facility for storing a variety of business equipment, records, and other paraphernalia associated with the conduct of a business enterprise.
Sheds are commonly small structures, frequently mounted on temporary foundations, and are often single room structures made from wooden walls or from aluminum siding mounted on a wooden frame. Access to the structure is usually restricted to either a single door or through double doors installed in the front of the structure. Sheds are uninhabited, are outlying from a residence or main business structure, and typically not equipped with a security alarm. Primary reliance for security is generally placed in some form of lock system to secure the doors from unauthorized entry. Such lock systems vary in their degree of sophistication. Consequently, sheds are frequent targets for thieves and vandals.
One commonly used lock system is a simple hasp and padlock. However, in this system the padlock may be removed with a hack saw or bolt cutter, or the hasp may be removed with a screwdriver or torn loose with a pry bar.
Another commonly used lock system employs a bar mounted across the doors on the outside of the shed which may be secured with a lock. An improved version of this type of lock system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,640, issued Sep. 23, 1997 to C. R. Ryan. The device in Ryan includes a bar mounted on a pair of lock posts and secured by a padlock, one end of the bar being shaped to conform to the pivoting bar of the padlock in order to prevent tampering with the padlock.
Other lock systems which illustrate a bar placed across the doors on the outside of an enclosure are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,354, issued Jan. 1, 1985 to L. D. Williams, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,053, issued Sep. 20, 1988 to R. C. Oxley. The Williams patent describes a crossbar which is partially disposed in a pair of mounting brackets which a hollow, rectangular tubes, the bar being secured by a hasp and padlock. Oxley teaches an L-shaped crossbar and two mounting plates which are perpendicular to each other, the bar being secured by a padlock at both ends of the crossbar, the crossbar pivoting on one mounting plate when the lock is removed from the opposite end of the crossbar.
The problem with lock systems in which the bar is mounted across the doors on the outside of the shed is that the bar is still exposed to vandals, who may cut the bar with a hack saw or who may insert a pry bar between the crossbar and the doors of the structure in order to gain enough leverage to pry the mounting brackets free from the walls or doors of the structure.
The present invention further deters attempted unauthorized entry into a shed or other structure by mounting a rod or crossbar across the doors of the shed on the interior of the shed. A number of patents describe lock systems which include a bar across the door on the inside of the structure, often applying pressure against the door so that access cannot be gained by kicking in the door of the structure, such as the devices shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,741, issued Nov. 24, 1992 to J. D. Everett; U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,254, issued Aug. 3, 1993 to J. C. Teaff; U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,343, issued Dec. 12, 1995 to J. W. Ledbetter; U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,364, issued Feb. 25, 1997 to J. R. Shelledy; U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,641, issued Sep. 23, 1997 to J. R. Jeansonne; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,266, issued Jun. 30, 1998 to W. Skiba. These devices, however, are designed for inhabited structures and are put in place from the inside of the structure. They do not permit raising or removing the bar from the outside of the structure.
Consequently, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a lock system for a shed solving the aforementioned problems is desired.